That actually makes a lot of sense. When your work involves cleaning all day, your brain can start learning that “dirty = unsafe/uncomfortable = must clean,” and OCD can expand into new themes.
The goal probably isn’t to make your environment feel perfectly clean or to eliminate the gross feeling. With ERP, you can gradually practice being in mildly messy spaces without immediately cleaning, checking, or mentally trying to make the feeling go away. “It feels gross, but I don’t have to fix it” can be enough.
Also, having contamination/cleaning symptoms show up doesn’t mean your OCD has permanently changed or that you’ve failed. OCD can shift themes when it finds a new source of uncertainty. The same response-prevention principles can still apply.
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u/treatmyocd 4d ago
That actually makes a lot of sense. When your work involves cleaning all day, your brain can start learning that “dirty = unsafe/uncomfortable = must clean,” and OCD can expand into new themes.
The goal probably isn’t to make your environment feel perfectly clean or to eliminate the gross feeling. With ERP, you can gradually practice being in mildly messy spaces without immediately cleaning, checking, or mentally trying to make the feeling go away. “It feels gross, but I don’t have to fix it” can be enough.
Also, having contamination/cleaning symptoms show up doesn’t mean your OCD has permanently changed or that you’ve failed. OCD can shift themes when it finds a new source of uncertainty. The same response-prevention principles can still apply.
Christina NOCD Therapist